Sublime

his scent, barely there, just soap and clean skin;

It would be easier to see her living in a gingerbread house than a convent.

inchoate

mien.

His gallantry reliably extends to whatever is disadvantaged, homely, long-suffering, foreign or feminine. Kind to stragglers and also-rans, to well-meaning duds and worthies, and correspondingly cautious in his praise of acknowledged stars and masters, Updike’s view of twentieth-century literature is a levelling one. Talent, like life, should be av

A ‘great’ butler can only be, surely, one who can point to his years of service and say that he has applied his talents to serving a great gentleman – and through the latter, to serving humanity.